Neighborhood under siege -- Easton standoff lasted nine hours

Two men were arrested, one on assault charges and the other on a warrant, related to an hours-long standoff on Old Foundry Street in Easton on Monday.

Cody Shepard The Enterprise @cshepard_ENT

EASTON – Heavily armed officers wearing camouflage uniforms held onto the back of an armored SUV as it drove closer to the home. Several other officers walked toward the scene with long guns and riot shields. And a remote-controlled robot rolled down the middle of Old Foundry Street between dozens of marked and undercover cruisers that lined both sides of the typically quiet street on Monday morning.

Dozens of law enforcement officials converged on the home at 25 Old Foundry St. in what became a nine-hour stand-off with eight people inside the home for a SWAT team.

The incident began about 11:35 p.m. on Sunday night when North Attleboro police officers responded to a home in the area of Juniper Road and Jefferson Street for a domestic assault. A man called police to report that his boyfriend kicked him in the chest and left the area, but said he was “going to get a firearm” and return, police said.

An all-points bulletin was given to local police departments regarding a red vehicle the suspect was in and Easton police were notified about midnight that the suspect, 25-year-old Anthony Tatarouns of Mansfield, may be heading to town.

Officers responded to Old Foundry Street and say they found that red vehicle with other people inside of it, but learned that Tatarouns had already been dropped off at the home, according to Easton Police Chief Gary Sullivan.

“We had reason to believe that Mr. Tatarouns and some of his friends were believed to be armed and had access to firearms,” Sullivan said.

That began an hours-long stand-off. Police were able to contact a few people inside the home by cell phone and the two homeowners came out quickly. Over the next several hours, the rest of the people inside the home slowly exited.

“Some people were cooperating, others just were not,” Sullivan said. “They all came out, just some came out sooner than others.”

Tatarouns, who was inside the home, was taken into custody when he exited the home. He is charged by North Attleboro police with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, domestic assault and battery, strangulation or suffocation, defacing property and intimidation of a witness.

Another man who was inside the home, 22-year-old Jordan Creech of Boston, had a default warrant out of Stoughton District Court on an open case for driving a motor vehicle with a suspended license. He was arrested on the warrant only.

The incident on Monday morning led police to ask residents to stay inside of their homes. The length of Old Foundry Street, about a half-mile, was closed for the duration of the incident.

Several neighbors described waking up to a loud boom. The police chief said those were flashbang stun grenades used to get the attention of the people inside.

“They threw a flashbang – big boom, then they started the bullhorn, ‘come out with your hands up,’” said Jason Dunham, who lives nearby.

While some thought the noise could have been gunshots, no gunfire was exchanged during the incident.

“I did hear a bang and it didn’t sound like a gun to me,” said Carol Dunham, Jason’s mother. “It sounded like something exploded. I woke up to the sound. It’s so quiet here in the morning, you can hear a pin drop.”

One of the people who was inside the home, a 17-year-old boy, was questioned by police and released. After being allowed to leave, he told reporters that the people who live in the home are “good people.”

“The SWAT team just showed up, they showed up at the house,” the unidentified teen said. “They were smashing windows, blow horns, flash bangs. I didn’t want to die, I didn’t want to get shot.”

The residents who live in the area were surprised to see such a large police presence in their neighborhood.

“It’s a pretty quiet area, so it’s a little bit surprising to see this kind of activity here,” said Carlo Urciuoli. “It’s a very safe neighborhood, never heard of a problem around here in the nine years we’ve been here.”

The police chief told The Enterprise mid-Monday afternoon that the search of the house was completed and it was “cleared,” but declined to provide any more information, including whether any weapons were recovered, due to the ongoing investigation. Although Tatarouns wasn’t immediately charged related to the Easton incident, Sullivan said it was a possibility he would be.

Tatarouns pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in Attleboro District Court on Monday afternoon. He was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on Friday.

The road was re-opened just before 11:30 a.m., which was 12 hours after the original incident in North Attleboro, but about 10 hours after Easton police first responded to Old Foundry Street.